Summary

From the point of view of biomedicine, the article in the journal Cell stands out, in which MIT researchers design a complete functional map of genes in human cells. Also the possibilities of liquid biopsy, which will make it possible to diagnose cancers at an early stage through a simple blood test. It is also necessary to highlight the controversy over the transmission of monkeypox, some say that the transmission could be aerial, while the CDC denies it. This is important in terms of vaccination strategy.

As far as Global Health is concerned, the humanitarian problems of the Ukraine war should be highlighted, which will not only be local but global.

Regarding international health policy, it is worth highlighting the Health Affairs article that shows that mortality from covid is higher in counties with a Republican vote than in those with a Democratic vote. Incredible conclusion, although this can be explained by a greater rejection of masks, social distance and vaccination in Republican environments. Health and its preventive orientation declared a priority by Macron. We will see what this translates into in practice.

If we talk about national health policy (Spain), it should be mentioned that 15 new CAR-T centers are approved in several hospitals. Impressive and accurate title of a talk by Rafael Bengoa: “SNS: 500,000 competent professionals in an incompetent model.” It rightly puts the emphasis on management and organization. This contrasts with the poverty and lack of news and prioritization of the programs of both the PP and the PSOE in the Andalusian elections. The PP program introduces the nonsense of making the 9,000 hired by the public health companies statutory, one of the successes of the PSOE in health. As for the PSOE program, it is a very long program, without any prioritization, and full of reflections against collaboration with the private sector, as if the so-called “privatization” were the problem of the system.

At the corporate level, the promising advances of BioNTech in pancreatic cancer and AstraZeneca-Daiichi in breast cancer should be noted.

Biomedicine

• MIT researchers design a complete functional map of genes that are expressed in human cells, with data accessible to the entire scientific community (https://www.diariomedico.com/medicina/genetica/disenan-un-mapa-functional-completo -of-genes-expressed-in-human-cells.html). Original article in Cell magazine: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(22)00597-9
• Liquid biopsy changes the paradigm of early cancer diagnosis, through a simple blood test (https://www.eleconomista.es/branded-content/noticias/11803876/06/22/La-biopsia-liquida-cambia -the-paradigm-of-the-early-diagnosis-of-cancer-.html)
• Controversy over the airborne transmission of monkeypox. Some say it’s possible (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06/07/health/monkeypox-masks-cdc.html), while the CDC rules it out (https://www.nytimes.com/2022 /06/10/health/monkeypox-airborne.html)

Global Health

• Ukraine: a humanitarian disaster, with long-term consequences, the effects will not be local but global; we have already gone from 8 to 13 million malnourished people in the world (https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/full/10.1377/hlthaff.2022.00444)
• A double crisis in Nepal: covid 19 and climate change (https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1434)
• Short sightedness: extremely common in Asia (https://www.economist.com/science-and-technology/2022/06/09/short-sightedness-was-rare-in-asia-it-is -becoming-ubiquitous)
• mHealth (mobile Health) and mental health in Africa, with the development of a mobile app to treat depression in teenage mothers (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22) 01020-0/fulltext)

International health policy

• Monkeypox
  • As the threat of monkeypox increases, scientists debate the best vaccination strategy (https://www.science.org/content/article/monkeypox-threat-grows-scientists-debate-best-vaccine- strategy)
  • African countries demand equitable access to the vaccine(https://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2022/06/07/variole-du-singe-les-pays-africains-reclament-un-acces- equitable-au-vaccin_6129153_3244.html)
  • Most UK monkeypox cases are in London (https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/10/majority-of-uks-monkeypox-cases-are-in- london-says-health-agency)
  • The WHO reports 780 cases of monkeypox in 27 non-endemic countries (https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2022/06/05/629cad5021efa0780d8b45d9.html)

• COVID-19
  • Several articles point out the correlation between mortality from covid and political confrontation in the United States. British Medical Journal: https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj.o1308; https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj-2021-069308; Health Affairs: https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/10.1377/hlthaff.2022.00085. The Health Affairs article shows that residents in counties with a predominant Republican vote, more opposed to masks, social distance and vaccination, with higher mortality than Democrats. At the national level, the excess was 72.9 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants.
  • Mental health in China after lockdowns (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)01051-0/fulltext?rss=yes)
  • Shanghai returns to lockdown, after detecting 11 cases (https://www.ft.com/content/ebdbc1cf-5cfd-42ac-a4fa-1e928eb702ff)
  • The human and economic cost of the zero-covid strategy is rising (https://www.ft.com/content/564be705-2de0-4837-acc6-fe87c3e61aec)

• Other themes
  • US will remove the covid test requirement for international travelers (https://www.ft.com/content/19cb88cd-2f08-47a7-94fd-ff9e39498f91)
  • The legal age to start smoking should increase every year, says a British report (https://www.ft.com/content/6622f446-7dbe-4398-bbbe-fc03212ef377)
  • The new abortion law being prepared in the US does not make exceptions for rape, incest and damage to the health of the mother, as in the pre-Roe v Wade phase (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/06 /09/health/abortion-bans-rape-incest.html)
  • Health Affairs magazine publishes two articles, one on the impact of prices on high health spending in the US: https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hpb20220506.381195/full/; another on the role of wasteful medical spending in that effect: https://www.healthaffairs.org/do/10.1377/hpb20220506.432025/full/
  • Healthcare has been declared a priority by Macron with an emphasis on preventive medicine. Macron has made prevention a fundamental pillar in his health policy, the Ministry of Health is now called Health and Prevention (https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)01050 -9/full text)

National health policy

• Monkeypox
  • The Ministry of Health gives the green light to the vaccination of high-risk close contacts and health personnel against monkeypox (https://www.elmundo.es/ciencia-y-salud/salud/2022/06/09/ 62a233d7fdddffac4e8b459e.html)
• COVID
  • The Ministry authorizes a fourth booster dose of the covid vaccine for those over 80 years of age and in residences (https://elpais.com/sociedad/2022-06-09/sanidad-autoriza-una-nueva-dosis-de -reinforcement-against-covid-for-those-over-80-years-old-and-in-residences.html)
  • The covid continues to kill fifty people a day, increasingly older (https://elpais.com/sociedad/2022-06-09/la-covid-sigue-matando-medio-centenar-de-personas-al -day-increasingly-older.html)

• Regulatory announcements
  • The CES approves the equity and cohesion law, but criticizes the speed of the process (https://www.diariomedico.com/medicina/politica/el-ces-da-luz-verde-al-anteproyecto- of-equity-and-cohesion-law-but-criticizes-the-speed-of-the-process.html)
• Other themes
  • 15 new CART-T centers are approved in Spain (https://www.consalud.es/politica/ministerio-sanidad/queda-red-centros-car-t-espana-incorporacion-15-nuevos-hospitales_116112_102.html )
  • Lacruz exposes the national Spanish and European lines in biosimilars, announcing changes in the Guarantee Law in relation to reference prices, as well as a substitution and interchangeability framework (https://www.diariofarma.com/2022/06/11 /lacruz-exposes-the-national-and-European-work-lines-in-biosimilars)
  • La Paz receives a certificate to produce two new advanced therapy drugs for the personalized treatment of oncological processes (https://www.lavanguardia.com/vida/20220610/8330894/paz-certificated-produce-dos-new-medicamentos- advanced-therapy.html)
  • Rafael Bengoa claims a license to innovate in management. Title of his talk: “SNS: 500,000 competent professionals in an incompetent model”, calling for local innovation in matters of organization and management (https://www.diariomedico.com/medicina/medicina-familiar/congresos/bengoa-vamos-ver -the-ministeries-of-health-in-crisis.html)
  • The Ministry of Health and Farmaindustria advance in the strategic plan for the pharmaceutical industry (https://isanidad.com/217986/sanidad-y-farmaindustria-avanzan-en-el-plan-estrategico-para-la-industria-farmaceutica /)
  • Few novelties in the health programs of the Andalusian parties. PP: it would transform the former employees of public hospital companies into statutory ones. PSOE: more restrictions on public/private collaboration (https://www.redaccionmedica.com/autonomias/andalucia/elecciones-en-andalucia-propuestas-de-cada-parte-en-sanidad-para-el-19j-6573 ). To see the programs: https://www.eldiario.es/andalucia/programas-electorales-principales-partidas-cara-elecciones-andalucia-2022_1_9056109.html

Companies

• International News
  • BioNTech mRNA treatment appears to be able to control pancreatic cancer (https://dialysisinc.com/business/biontech-pancreatic-cancer-mrna-jabs-may-tame-a-savage-disease/)
  • AstraZeneca-Daiichi drug markedly improves breast cancer survival, according to trials (https://www.ft.com/content/9a9a3650-4e5b-4dcb-aeb7-1aa8533fd6d5)
  • Pfizer completes the acquisition of the British company ReViral (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/pfizer-completa-la-acquisition-de-la-britanica-reviral.html)
  • BioNTech underpins its African project and will begin construction of a factory in Rwanda (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/biontech-apuntala-su-proyecto-africano-e-iniciara-la-construccion-de-su- factory-in-rwanda.html)

• National News
  • Antidiabetics and anticoagulants star in the ten best-selling medicines in Spain (https://www.eleconomista.es/salud/noticias/11806746/06/22/Antidiabeticos-y-anticoagulantes-protagonizan-los-diez-medicamentos-mas-vendidos -in-Spain.html)
  • Viamed gains weight in Catalonia and invests 50 million in a new hospital in Catalonia (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/viamed-gana-peso-en-cataluna-e-invierte-50-millones-en-un -new-hospital-in-tarragona.html)
  • Quirón launches a new day hospital in Malaga (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/quironsalud-mira-al-sur-y-pone-en-marcha-un-nuevo-hospital-de-dia -in-malaga.html)
  • Colisée, a French group specializing in the elderly, which was already in Catalonia, bets on Spain and acquires the Blauclinic group, four social health centers in Barcelona (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/colisee-bets-on -spain-and-acquires-the-blauclinic-group.html)
  • Healthcare assets plans to double its portfolio in four years, to 1,400 million euros (https://www.ejeprime.com/residencial/healthcare-activos-preve-duplicar-su-cartera-en-cuatro-anos-hasta-1400 -millions-of-euros.html)
  • Oryzon rises 4.5% on the stock market after receiving approval in the US of a trial with an anticancer (https://www.elconfidencial.com/empresas/2022-03-21/cotizacion-oryzon-genomics-bolsa-estados -united-trial-patients-leukemia_3395041/)
  • Novartis bets on Salamanca and will build a factory in Castellanos de Moriscos (https://www.plantadoce.com/empresa/novartis-apuesta-por-salamanca-y-construira-una-fabrica-en-castellanos-de-moriscos. html)